Warner Bros. Previews Fall Dramas ‘Argo,’ ‘Cloud Atlas’ in Toronto

Warner Bros. showcased two of its biggest fall films during the Toronto International Film Festival’s opening days, one proving an across-the-board hit with audiences, the other a more divisive proposition.

“Argo,” actor-director Ben Affleck’s take on a CIA mission to rescue six Americans from the 1979 Iran hostage crisis under the guise of a movie shoot, generated a standing ovation Friday night from the audience at Roy Thomson Hall. On hand were Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Bryan Cranston and Tate Donovan, plus Affleck’s wife Jennifer Garner and sometime collaborator Matt Damon.

“Argo” premiered, aptly, on the same day the Canadian government closed its embassy in Tehran. The film depicts a little known incident wherein the CIA and the Canadian embassy helped six Americans escape Tehran during the Iranian hostage crisis.

Less than 24 hours later, Warner premieres “Cloud Atlas,” another buzzy film that generated intense reactions, positive and negative. Directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and Andy Wachowski, the 2 hour, 44 minute film is based on David Mitchell’s sprawling 2004 novel that interweaves six different narratives set in six vastly different time periods and features Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant.